Kantin – Istanbul

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Tuba Şatana

Let’s see…

A couple of stairs, enter through the glass door, greeted by smiling faces, crowd is eating happily, yes again full, should I wait for a table at the terrace or anywhere, let’s see what is on the big board today… White table clothes and fresh flowers meet the eye before the feast.

You are very welcome to Kantin!

Kantin is a safe place! One of the two-three safest places to eat in the city, other than home. But for this kind of food, sorry to say, there is no opponent for Kantin. In Kantin the food is handled with respect, getting the most out of it.

The menu changes due to availability, seasons and mood. There is “Hergün” meaning everyday and “Bugün” meaning today menu written on a big board. If you are lucky to go there at spring, artichoke season, be sure to eat enginar pate, artichoke spread, smooth, kicking, flavors bursting in your mouth, served on a garlic rubbed toasted bread, with a little goat cheese, leaves of water cress… Bahar salatası, spring salad, is with the best mozzarella you can find in Turkey, shelled fresh broad beans, asparagus, is the answer to what a salad should be!

Çıtır, meaning crispy, is a little thin dough cooked in wood oven, topped with varieties of artichoke or vegetables or smoked salmon is the one thing you cannot get enough of. The bream also gets its share from the wood oven and comes with its crackling skin, filled with herbs. The grilled cutlet of chicken with sage, turkey marinated with honey, artichokes with parsley, everything…

Ayran is made with herbs, lemonade is old school. Turkish coffee is served with, well, I’ll leave this as a surprise…

Dükkan is down stairs where prepared food, desserts, bread, cheese and more delicacies are sold. If you are hungry after a days work, stop there to indulge yourself and pick our poison. One thing though! If you can choose! Desserts have a league of their own. Lemon cake, chocolate cake, carrot cake -one of my faves-, cherry jam and clotted cream filled tarts, chocolate and brandy filled mini bombs… all the remedy you need anytime of the day!

The food of Kantin is simple, clean, all about Istanbul and Aegean. Şemsa Denizsel is an indisputable kitchen goddess and one of the best chefs of Turkey.

Skillful cooking, peculiar tastes, sustainability, top notch ingredients combined with flavors comes up to clean tastes, simple, yet every bite notable, leaving you in a bliss.

Kantin not only fills your tummy, but also your soul!

Address: Akkavak sokak No.30, Nişantaşı, Istanbul

Phone: (212) 219 3114

Service Hours: Restaurant, Monday-Saturday 11.00am-8.30pm last order, Dükkan Monday-Saturday 10.30am-8.00pm

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Şekerci Cafer Erol – Istanbul

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Tuba Şatana

Before you go in the wonderland, you have to decide what you want to purchase, otherwise you feel like Alice falling down the hall. A sweet dream. A paradise of sweets. 203 years old establishment and run by fifth and sixth generation. In the heart of Kadıköy Food Market, its window displays are always inviting, all colorful and all intact.

My favorite is akide şekeri in this confectioner, like to say bonbon, or candy. Huge jars full of colorful candies, shiny, luscious, mouth watering! Colorful and delicious as life. The assortment is wide, cinnamon, bergamot, lemon and mint, mint, rose, lemon, orange, nuts, strawberry, coconut and more.

Turkish delights with a variety of rose, double roasted pistachios, mastic gum, nuts, coffee, double roasted plain, cinnamon, chocolate coated, you name it.

Hand made marzipan, almond paste, all in the form of vegetables and fruit, you just do not want to eat them just watch them!

And the fruit flavored jelly, coated with tiny grains of sugar! They take me to my childhood, where I used to fill my little hands with them, making my hand sticky and, my granny shouting after not to fill myself with sweets before dinner!

Of course this is not all, they also made delicious Turkish sweets like tulumba, zerde, aşure, şekerpare and different kinds of helva.

Excuses to stop at Cafer Erol: You have visited Turkey and returning home already, just buying some for everyone at home, you love Cafe Erol, you love sweets, you are visiting your granny, you want to put a jar of colorful bonbons on your office desk and make everyone jealous, and make them love you more, you want to surprise your parents with their favorite, you were passing by, you loved the display, you want to ask your beloved one’s parents for their blessings, you have a newborn baby or you are buying all for you!

A timeless treat, a little time stolen from our lives, and a memory to take us to those days we had with the loved ones.

Address: Yasa Cad. No:19, Kadıköy, Istanbul

Phone: (216) 337 1103

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Baylan Pastanesi – Istanbul

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Tuba Şatana

One of Istanbul’s touchstones, my one and only Baylan stands bold, against all the new trends of baking,reminding us that old school is always sound. Ask any Istanbul local, they always have a story to tell you about Baylan, and their memories from the good old days of Istanbul.

You feel like the place has been left untouched from old times, so magical, so nostalgic. I prefer to sit inside, where most of the people enjoy the mini cosy garden at the back of the patisserie.

They have many tastes that will please you but the signature dessert, but Kup Griye is the one! Made with vanilla ice cream, almonds, nuts, caramel sauce, chantilly cream and on top a lady finger, you order an espresso, then prepare to be amazed, cause the taste will take you to a sweet dream, while the hot, devil espresso tries to remind you where you are. The espresso is one of the best you can enjoy in Istanbul.

Macaroons, ice cream desserts, cherry liqueur filled home made chocolates, and my other favorite Paskalya Çöreği, the Easter bread, made with mahaleb, mastic gum, chemically balancing each other. That is the expertise.They also bake sweet and savory cookies, cakes, petits fours and the other treats.

Make time for this true Istanbul gem.

Address: Muvakkithane Caddesi, No:19, Kadıköy, Istanbul

Phone: (216) 346 6350

Service Hours: 8:30am – 8:00pm, everyday

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Karaköy Güllüoğlu – Istanbul

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Tuba Şatana

In between the paper thin flakes of dough you see the ruby green of crushed pisstachios…

You smell the butter, you taste the pisstachios, then the crunchiness of the dough and the taste blows in you mouth then sublimes you to a new level of zen.

This place has always been the answer to the perfect baklava!

And plus they serve the best lemonade in town.

You can order a lemonade and a portion of baklava of your choice, to take you to your childhood and for a sweet-sweet coma… Or stick with a glass of water and Turkish coffee. Or take some home…

One disadvantage of this place, you can never leave with empty handed and it is really hard to choose when you see all those trays of baklavas…

Address: Mumhane Cad. No. 171 Karaköy

Phone: (212) 249 9680

Service hours: 07:00 am – 10:00 pm

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